Bush: 'I can't hear what you said'

by Mark Silva

At Countdown to Crawford, they are counting the days since President Bush's last formal press conference: Two months, three days.

"Since then,'' our colleage Jim Gerstenzang notes, "both major political parties have named their candidates to replace him, his administration has embarked on the sort of corporate bailouts that are anathema to Republican philosophy, stocks have spiraled downward, and hurricanes have lashed the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.''

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told the L.A. Times' Gerstenzang that Bush has taken questions from reporters here and there since that July 15 news conference.

"I'm sure he misses you all greatly," Perino said, with a clear signal that the next presser is not imminent. The election campaign has gotten in the way, she allowed:

"I mean, every time that I would think about maybe having a press conference, the news of the day would be such that we might be talking about lipstick on a pig, and the president is just not going to get involved in it."

One noble attempt was made by Deb Riechmann, an Associated Press White House correspondent, toward the end of an Oval Office photo session on Wednesday with Bush and President Martin Torrijos of Panama. It went like this, as noted and videotaped, above, by Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers: "With all due respect," she said, "you haven't taken any questions since Aug. 6."

"I can't hear what you said," Bush responded.

"You got to speak with a louder voice. I can't hear you. I'm old."